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On This Day: First of new British decimal coins enter circulation as 5p and 10p pieces are minted

APRIL 23, 1968: The first decimal coins were introduced in Britain on this day in 1968.

The new 5p and 10p pieces – shown being produced at the Royal Mint in a British Pathé newsreel – would go on to replace the one- and two-shilling coins respectively.

However, they would be used alongside the old currency until 1971 when the 240p-per-pound system was replaced by a simpler 100p pound.

Mini Decimal Day – staged on St George’s Day – was met with a mixture of excitement and confusion.

Some people thought that the New Pence were worth the same as five and ten old pennies, whereas they held more than double that value – 12d and 24d respectively.

Others were less vexed by the introduction of the new coinage, taking the new money in their stride.

‘I suppose it will take a bit of getting used to,’ one newspaper seller in the City of London told the BBC.


‘But I don't think it will bother me at all. I've seen the pictures in the papers and it looks pretty simple to me.’

The new coins were introduced gradually before Decimal Day – when the old currency stopped being legal tender – took place on February 15, 1971.

The 5p and 10p coins were the easiest to launch since they looked the same as what they were replacing.

 

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The greatest confusion was caused when the 50p piece, which held the same value as a ten-shilling note, was introduced in October 1969

Despite its novel seven-sided shape - it was often mistaken for both the old half crown and new 10p piece while the two systems coexisted.

To add to the confusion, the heptagon had the image of Britannia on one side – just like the old penny, which had remained the same since the early 18th century.


Yet despite a raft of complaints, including from MPs, three new coins – the 2p, 1p and half pence pieces – were minted the following year.

The government had held off introducing them since, unlike the others, they did not roundly convert to the old pounds, shillings and pence – symbolised by £sd.

The 2p piece was worth 4.8d, 1p was the same as 2.4d and half penny was the equivalent of 1.2d.

 

[On This Day: First 50p coins cause instant confusion]

 

And, later, many people complained that these coins gave shopkeepers an excuse to raise many of their prices.

Decimalisation was introduced as a bid to boost the economy and allow Britain to follow suit with the currencies of other major countries.

The old system – in which a pound contained 20 shillings and each shilling was worth 12 pence - was also much harder to mentally add up sums of money.


The first proposal to decimalise Sterling was made in 1824 after the French adopted a franc made up of 100 centimes.

That and subsequent other requests were, however, rejected by Parliament.

By the late 1960s, Britain and Ireland stood alone as countries using what many others considered an antiquated system.

 

[On This Day: Decimal currency introduced across Britain]

 

So the decision was made to change and the Decimalisation Act was finally ratified in May 1969.

Decimal Day itself – when all change to payments received in old coinage was given in the new system - went relatively smoothly, despite fears of chaos.

Since then, a number of changes have been made to the coins in use.


A 20p piece introduced in 1982 and a one-pound coin replaced a note in 1983, while the half penny was withdrawn from circulation in 1984.

The 5p and 10p were each made smaller in 1993.

A similar change was made to the 50p piece in 1998 – although, luckily, it is now differently sized to the current 10p coin.

 

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Since 2008, Britannia was dropped from newly minted 50p coins – sparking outrage, although she will still continue to be seen on millions of others in circulation.

The new coins are also no longer inscribed with the words ‘New Pence’ – now just ‘Pence’ and a new slang term ‘pee’ is commonly used by the general public.